HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — We usually have to wait until Thursday night’s announcement of the All-Star reserves for all “snubbed” talk to kick up.

But with this afternoon’s unveiling of the names in the draft pool for the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend, the furor is here a day early. There were a few names people expected to see on the list that were missing in action, namely Heat rookie Norris Cole, Rockets forward Chandler Parsons, Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette and Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert.

Now with Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin, and rookie Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio headlining, the list of players TNT’s Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will choose from to comprise the rosters, there isn’t a ton of room to complain. And in defense of the committee, there were only nine slots available for rookies and nine for sophomores. Click here to peruse the roster for yourself.

But the omissions are sure to draw the ire of fans in certain places. And this will serve as good practice for tomorrow night. So let the venting begin …

tristan thompson and markieff morris over chandler parsons is just pitiful. parsons is top 5 among rookies in rebounds, blocks, and steals not to mention that hes out rebounding thompson from the small forward spot. parsons is also starting on a team with a WINNING record, unlike morris and thompson.

I hope we can get 3 or 4 years where teams make drafting centres their priority. Every team has a good guard now and more is entering. The fact that Dwight Howard is the top vote getter in the East and that Andrew Bynum is starting an all-star game really shows how the stock of centres are already depleted. Neither one those two would even make the all-star team in any era except the last decade.

The only solution i was able to come up with for why cole, iman, and jimmer were not selected is because the amount of guards that would have been for this event would have been ridiculous. I thought maybe they didnt want all rookie guards but then looking at Parsons, he puts up decent stats for his team. And not to knock Morris or Thompson, two forwards that made the list, but the numbers and minutes they put up compared to the guys above seem kinda similar if not lower. Im also surprised jimmer didnt get in because i was sure he was a fan favorite.